


The monster under the bed

by PeterHaleforAlpha



Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Case Fic, Multi, set between 5x22 and 5x23, trouble alley
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-07
Updated: 2016-09-07
Packaged: 2018-08-13 14:48:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7980484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeterHaleforAlpha/pseuds/PeterHaleforAlpha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Duke and Nathan have to get through Trouble Alley to get some medicine from a pharmacy on the other end of town. Unfortunately Nathan activates a Trouble and he get chased by a giant monster.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The monster under the bed

Trouble Alley!  
  
Duke knew that Haven was in a bad place, the whole town looked like a war zone but this - this was even worse. Wrecked cars, abandoned homes, dead bodies. This sight was more heartbreaking than looking at the destroyed Gull. All these people had suffered so much - and all because of him.   
There was graffiti on the walls. Warnings. _Keep out! Turn around!_   
  
Duke swallowed but this awful feeling in his gut didn’t disappear. Imagining people who sprayed these walls was horrible. Duke hated what they had been through, what they were still dealing with. This wasn’t over. It had just begun.   
Nathan grabbed his arm and Duke stopped at the touch. He looked down on a sprayed yellow line on the ground. “This was me,” Nathan explained. “Nasty trouble.”   
“What is it?” Duke looked around but couldn’t see anything suspicious, just more and more destruction and sorrow.   
  
“Fortunately solved by now. It was a giant _invisible_ monster who woke up at any sound.”   
Duke smirked. “Good that I don’t have to keep my mouth shut. I’m terrible at this.” Joking was easy. Joking was deflecting. “I’m not very fond of meeting any monsters.”   
“Well don’t cheer too soon. It’s not the only monster around here.”   
  
Duke sighed internally. Of course it was not the only monster. After all a vicious sea monster had destroyed the Gull. Of course there were even more. “I don’t see any monsters.” Duke shrugged. “You’re sure you’re not only afraid of the monster under your bed, Nate?”  
Nathan furrowed his brows. “No.”   
“Sure?”   
“It’s a Trouble, Duke. This monster _smells_ blood. It appears out of thin air when you bleed, no matter how small the cut is.”   
Duke nodded. “Okay, so, _don’t cut yourself._ Got it.”   
  
Duke wanted to keep walking but Nathan’s grip was too firm. “Your immunity won’t protect you here, Duke. These are all Troubles that influence their surroundings, they don’t target _you_. It’s as dangerous for you in there as it is for me.”   
“Don’t care,” Duke said. “We both signed up for this mission. I’m not leaving you now.”   
“I didn’t mean-” Nathan shook his head and let go of Duke. “Let me take the lead, I know this alley better than you.”   
  
“Sure, lead the way.” Duke trusted Nathan and he had a point. Nathan had been through this alley probably a few times. He even marked the spot where this one Trouble ended. Nathan had done so much to keep everyone in this town safe. Duke had just ran away. Although he thought he would do the right thing, and protect the people of Haven with that, he probably had never been more wrong in his entire life. Duke had acted cowardly. When he returned to Haven it became clear to him. He hadn’t just left them with horrible and dangerous Troubles, he left them to starve. They were living on rations, all divided equally among the people. But here and there things ran out. Like medicine for example. Very urgent medicine.   
It would have taken too long for Duke to head to the next city and get some more. So Trouble Alley it was.   
  
On the other side there was a pharmacy they didn’t have the time to clear out. The Troubles hit too hard and big in this part of town. There had been no evacuation, but more running for their lives.   
Nathan told him all that. It clearly didn’t let Duke feel less guilty, more the other way around. That’s why he was the first to volunteer for this mission. Right after him Nathan followed.   
  
  
Now he was following Nathan. For ten minutes they walked through this deserted street. No trouble was in sight so far. This was good. The faster they moved forward the faster they were back to give this man his medicine. And the faster they were back with Audrey. It hadn’t been the best time to leave her on her own but they hadn’t another choice. Someone _needed_ to go and Duke and Nathan were the best bet to make it back alive.   
As it seemed this would be true. Maybe they had just been lucky until now. Duke knew that luck could turn around any second in Haven. In the one moment you thought you were winning and the next second you were already on the ground, broken and beaten.   
Duke just waited for this moment to come. His senses were on high alert, yet he couldn’t warn Nathan in time when it was necessary.   
  
They moved around a car. Without looking Nathan put his hand on the hood and missed the broken glass from the smashed windows. Duke saw it too late, tried to stop Nathan’s hand but the glass already sunk into his skin. “Shit, Nathan,” Duke shouted and grabbed his wrist, turned Nathan with one strong pull around. “You’re bleeding.” At once Duke started to pick out the pieces of glass, this time without caring if he was careful or not. Nathan wouldn’t feel it anyway.   
  
“Stop, Duke.” Nathan hit Duke’s hand away. “You don’t want to start bleeding as well. Just give me a cloth or something. If we put it around my hand maybe-” Nathan was stopped by a loud bang.  
Both cringed at the sound, and hid instinctively behind the car. “This didn’t sound good,” Duke said. “Not good at all. What does this monster do when it appears?”   
Nathan laughed dryly. “What do you think?”   
  
Duke remembered the dead bodies on the way here and he tried at once to delete this image out of his brain. “Okay, okay, time to go then.”   
“We still need the medicine.”   
Duke stared at Nathan. “Are you kidding me? There is a giant monster who is looking for you and you still want to go shopping?”   
“This is why we came here, Duke.” Nathan stayed totally calm. “We _need_ to get this medicine.”  
Duke shook his head, not believing how incredible stupid Nathan could be. “We can come back later. We get you to safety first.”   
“No, Duke, my life isn’t more important than all the others. We can’t just turn around and say how sorry we are that it didn’t work out.”   
  
Duke closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He knew that Nathan was right. And it was not the first time that Nathan or Duke were in danger but now it all felt like Duke’s fault. All these dead people were on him. All the people who were still alive and suffering were on him. He couldn’t bare the thought to have Nathan’s life on him as well. That’s why he wanted him out of the danger zone so badly.  
  
“What’s your plan?” Duke opened his eyes again and tried to focus on the mission.  
Nathan took off the backpack from his back and held it to Duke. “You keep going and get the medicine. I will distract this monster.”   
“WHAT?” Now Nathan really went insane. He couldn’t be serious. Duke wouldn’t just leave him as food for some stupid monster.   
“It’s only interested in me. I _smell good_ ,” Nathan kept going and ignored Duke completely. “So you can get undetected to the pharmacy and back.”   
  
Duke opened his mouth, wanted to protest but the stamping footsteps came closer and suddenly the car was flying through the air, leaving them fully exposed. “Shit,” Duke swore, grabbed Nathan’s arm and pulled him along. “Run.”   
The monster was at least 30 foot tall, had brown fur and really really long claws. Not that Duke had actually the time to look at this monstrosity. He was way to busy getting Nathan away from these claws.   
“Come on, hurry up.” But Nathan already sped up his pace and passed Duke right in this second. Still Duke didn’t let go of Nathan’s arm, he was too afraid that Nathan would act on his stupid idea and just change course. Duke liked the way it was now. Both getting chased by this monster. Okay, maybe he was not entirely thrilled _being chased_ by a giant monster but at least he knew where Nathan was. Right next to him where he could keep an eye on him and make sure that Nathan remained in one piece.   
  
“We need a plan,” Nathan shouted and turned right behind some dumpsters into an alley, pulling Duke with him. Duke only hoped they wouldn’t end up in some dead end but as it seemed Nathan knew his way around these streets. The alley was too small for the big beast so they had won some time to take their breaths.  
“What now?” Duke asked. “We can’t keep running forever.”   
“Now you go to the pharmacy and I will lure him in the other direction.”   
Duke sighed. “Not again, Nate. This won’t happen. I’m not leaving you.”   
  
“What will you do exactly to protect me, Duke? We can only run, nothing more. And I can run on my own. I can distract this monster until you have finished our mission and we can get out of here together. It’s not a bad plan.”   
“It’s a damn bad plan,” Duke grumbled but knew that he had already lost. There was no arguing with Nathan about this. And unfortunately Duke hadn’t another plan. So this was the only one. With no proper arguments Duke could forget to protest any further. “But okay,” he added. “Give me your backpack.”  
Nathan turned over his bag and smiled. “Don’t worry, I’m fast.”   
  
Actually this was true. Nathan had always been the fastest in their class but Duke wasn’t so sure if this was enough against this beast. “Just promise me you’ll be careful. And don’t get caught.”  
Nathan just nodded. “You know the way?”   
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure.” They have both studied the maps beforehand in case something like this happened. And of course Duke knew this town. Maybe he hadn’t been in this particular corner often but he still knew his way around. He would find the pharmacy on his own.   
“Good luck,” Nathan said.  
“You too.”   
  
  
Nathan had run back in the direction they came from so that Duke could proceed. He shouldered Nathan’s backpack over his own and ran as fast as his feet took him. The faster he got to the pharmacy the faster he could be back with Nathan and they could get out of this awful Trouble alley. Duke just hoped this monster would dissolve the second they passed those yellow line because he had no fucking clue what else they should do if it wouldn’t.   
It took Duke only a couple of minutes to get to the pharmacy and open all the drawers in the back room. Without looking he just put all the medicine he could find in both their bags. A lot of medicine was already missing. So some smart people acted quickly as it seemed but there was still plenty there.   
The backpacks weren’t enough so Duke looked for some more bags. He found two more in which he could fit in the rest of the medicine.   
  
Fully packed he left the pharmacy and ran back to Trouble Alley. It was easy to find Nathan, after all the monster was huge and was not hard to miss. And somewhere near it Nathan had to be. Duke ran closer to the monster but made sure to keep some distance. Nathan was running back and forth, hiding behind cars every time he got a chance just to slow the monster down a little or to get himself a little more time.   
Duke resisted to call Nathan’s name so he wouldn’t get distracted. Best plan would probably be just to run over to him and then to leave this place together. He started running again, light on his feet so that he wouldn’t attract the attention of the beast but as it seemed it was only interested in Nathan.   
  
He was almost there when he saw how Nathan tripped over something and lost his balance. Immediately Duke dropped the bags and sped up to get to him but the monster was quicker.   
“No, Nathan, watch out,” he shouted desperately as he witnessed the monster’s claws reaching down to grab Nathan. Nathan picked himself up but it was too late. Duke saw how the monster took a hold of Nathan, surrounding him with his immense claws. Duke expected blood and Nathan shouting out of pain but it was quiet. Totally quiet.   
  
Nathan was gone, just gone. He disappeared into thin air and a moment later the beast was gone too.   
Duke was alone as if no one else had been here at all. He walked over to the spot where Nathan had fallen but there was nothing.   
“Nathan?” he shouted. “NATHAN?”


End file.
